The present invention relates generally to a screw aligning and guiding device, and more particularly to a screw aligning and guiding device having an arrangement which facilitates loading and unloading of a screw strip into and out of the device.
Numerous screw aligning and guiding devices have heretofore been designed which are adapted to be used with screw strips which have a number of screws supported thereon. The screw aligning and guiding devices are designed to sequentially feed screws into alignment with a bit end of a shaft driven by an electrically powered drill. The screw aligning and guiding devices are also designed to sequentially guide such screws during advancement thereof into a workpiece of such shaft.
In order to sequentially feed screws into alignment with the bit end of the shaft, the previously designed screw aligning and guiding devices have incorporated various pawl and ratchet mechanisms. Such mechanisms operate to engage one of the screws supported on an associated screw strip and urge the screw, and consequently the entire screw strip, upwardly toward a desired position. Typically, the previously designed screw aligning and guiding devices have utilized various springs to generate the biasing force needed to urge the screw strip upwardly.
The pawl and ratchet mechanisms, along with their associated springs, tend to be quite complex arrangements. Further, the interaction of the mechanical parts of the pawl and ratchet mechanism with the screws of the screw strip, make loading and unloading of the screw strip into and out of the device a somewhat difficult and complicated task.
What is needed therefore is a screw aligning and guiding device which overcomes one or more drawbacks of the previously designed devices. For example, what is needed is a screw aligning and guiding device which possesses a mechanism for urging a screw strip upwardly to a desired position in the device which is relatively less mechanically complex. Moreover, for example, what is needed is a screw aligning and guiding device which enables very easy loading and unloading of an associated screw strip into and out of the device.